My name is Ann, and I am a single mom. I adopted two beautiful sisters in the late fall of 2011. I am hoping to journal my journey as a mom and share my ups and downs...most of all, my heart. I hope that we can encourage each other through this journey.

The Romagnolo Family

Saturday, August 27, 2016

The Road To My First Half Marathon: Proper Preparation

Today I ran 14 miles.Wait, let me say that again…today I ran 14 miles!Woo-hoo!That is so unreal to me.It’s
crazy to me.It’s been a long week.School started this past Monday and ALL the
ladies in the Romagnolo house are EXHAUSTED!

Even though I kept up with my training throughout the summer, I still
wasn’t as active as when I am at school.I did a lot of moving this week!Getting up super early before it got too hot was not on my list of
“wants” for the weekend.I did it though
and now I know that I can for sure do a half marathon.I have one more long run that I should do
before my half, but I’ll probably only do about 11 to 12 miles.Until then, I’ll keep doing my weekly runs,
working on hills and speed, and then I am running the Tour des Fleurs 10k on
September 17th.

I learned and was reminded of a few things from this
morning’s run.Sorry if some of this is
TMI…J

Nutrition is EVERYTHING, especially the night
before a run.Those 3 slices of pizza
that I had the night before were NOT a good idea.

Wake up early enough the morning of a run to
have a cup of coffee and to let the coffee work its magic (if you know what I
mean).

Somewhere around miles 6 – 9 I started feeling
uncomfortable.I was fine when I had to
walk (I do Galloway’s run-walk-run), but running was starting to hurt.I was ready to quit at mile 9.I pushed through.Finally around mile 12 I had to stop and use
the restroom.I was ready to quit there
too.I went ahead and ran the last two
even though the soreness was starting to kick in.I did it though.I finished!I also tried to run most of the race course that I’ll have for the Plano
Balloon Festival.

The route for my race.

The route that I ran today.

Now I’ll have a good
idea of what to expect in 29 days.If
you ever get a chance to run your race route pre-race, give it a try.I know that it will mentally prep me for my
race.

I tried running in my new Sparkle Skirt today.I absolutely loved it!!

I’ll be wearing that outfit for the Plano
Balloon Festival 5K.I already warned my
friend that I’m running with. JI also remembered my salt pills today.I took one pre-run and then one mid-way
through.I also wore a sweat band (thank
you Color Run) today.I might have
looked dorky, but it kept the sweat out of my eyes.J

Another thing that I did new this time around, was use the
app Road ID.

This app sends eCrumbs to
up to 5 people.The eCrumbs tell the 5
people that I chose that I am going out for a run.If I stop moving for 5 minutes or more, it
will alert them that I haven’t moved.It
also allows them to track my progress.When I am done, I can send them another eCrumb to tell them that I have
finished.I have chosen 3 people to be
on my list.I checked with all 3 today
and they all said that it worked and that they were able to track me.Being a single woman and a single mama, I
thought that this would be something great for me to use.This is great for any runner, biker,
etc.During my long runs it is still a
little dark out at first, so this helps me to be and feel safer.It is important for us to be safe out
there.

A special shout out goes to my sweet and very good friends, Judi and Meredith. Thank you for letting the girls have a sleepover so that this mama could get her training in. I am so grateful for my support system.